dēfensor, ōris, m., rar. f. [defendo].
I One who fends, wards, averts , or keeps off : necis, Cic. Mil. 22, 58: periculi, id. Mur. 2.—
II A defender, protector .
1 In gen. (for syn. cf.: tutor, praeses, vindex, cognitor, curator, patronus, advocatus, causidicus): paterni juris, Cic. de Or. 1, 57, 244; cf. id. Mil. 15: juris et libertatis, id. Rab. perd. 4, 12: octo tribuni plebis, illius adversarii, defensores mei, id. Mil. 15, 39; cf. Hor. S. 2, 5, 30; opp. petitor, Quint. 4, 2, 132: bonus, id. 5, 13, 3 et saep.; opp. accusator, id. 7, 2, 31; 5, 13, 3; Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 38, § 82 et saep.; cf. patronus. Once fem. : mulier defensor alicujus, Dig. 16, 1, 2 fin. : canes defensores, Varr. R. R. 2, 9.—
2 Esp. in plur., defensores, the garrison : oppidum vacuum ab defensoribus, Caes. B. G. 2, 12; id. ib. 3, 25 et saep.; Sall. J. 23; Liv. 21, 11; Verg. A. 2, 521; Ov. M. 13, 274 et saep.—
3 Defensor civitatis, or plebis, or loci, in the later period of the empire (since 365 A.D.), title of a magistrate in the provincial cities, whose chief duty was to afford protection against oppression on the part of the governor; he was likewise endowed with a subordinate civil jurisdiction, Cod. Theod. 1, 11; Cod. Just. 1, 55; Just. Inst. 1, 20, 5.—*
B Of inanimate subjects, as the guards (sublicae) of a bridge, Caes. B. G. 4, 17 fin.